Hospitality entrepreneur John Szangolies drops $27million on Palm Beach holiday house in Sydney

Tobacco tycoon’s mega waterfront family mansion sells for $27million – a record for property outside Sydney’s posh eastern suburbs – to hospitality entrepreneur amid a shortage of holiday homes for millionaires

  • Entrepreneur John Szangolies purchases $27million Palm Beach holiday house 
  • The restaurateur has bought his second multimillion dollar property on Illuka Rd  
  • The house is the former weekender of tobacco tycoon family The Nelson’s
  • Virginia & husband Arthur Nelson bought the property for $1.07m 37 years ago 


A multimillionaire restaurateur has snapped up a summer getaway house in a Sydney beachside suburb ahead of the holiday season. 

Hospitality entrepreneur John Szangolies and his wife Heather dropped a cool $27million on the Palm Beach getaway at Iluka Road in the northern beaches.

The waterfront property was the former weekender of Virginia Nelson – wife of the late tobacco magnate Arthur Nelson – for 37 years. 

Hospitality entrepreneur John Szangolies and his wife Heather have dropped $27million on a holiday house on Illuka Road, Palm Beach, in Sydney’s northern beaches (pictured)

Boasting 1,200 square kilometres of north-facing waterfront land, the home sits quietly tucked away from inquisitive beachgoers at nearby Snapperman Beach.  

The eye-watering sum not only trumps the lower north shore’s $25million record but also outbids Mr Szangolies’ other Illuka Road holiday house metres down the road. 

In 2016 the couple purchased another beachside property in Palm Beach for more than $10million after the multimillion dollar sale of his Urban Purveyor Group.   

Restaurateur Mr Szangolies (pictured) sold his Urban Purveyor Group for $200million in 2016

Restaurateur Mr Szangolies (pictured) sold his Urban Purveyor Group for $200million in 2016

Mr Szangolies’s new holiday house was quietly listed by the Nelson family with LJ Hooker Palm Beach with a price guile of $24million, according to Domain.

The tobacco tycoon family bought the weekender in 1984 for a mere $1.07 million from Geofferey Hassal, the director of leather goods company Loris H. Hassall.

One of the few double-blocks available on Illuka Road, the property was reportedly purchased with the intent to knock down and rebuild while the family remain based in their $16.85million Rose Bay mansion. 

John Szangolies sold his Urban Purveyor Group which compromises of notable venues; Bavarian Bier Cafe and Sake Restaurants, for close to $200 million in 2016. 

The same year Mr Szangolies purchased Rosebay’s Tivoli Villa for $16.85million – as a ‘doer upper’ – where it was rebuilt for approximately $10million.

Mr Szangolies has another holiday house on the same road in Palm Beach (pictured)

Mr Szangolies has another holiday house on the same road in Palm Beach (pictured)

He purchased his earlier holiday house for more than $10million in 2016 (pictured)

He purchased his earlier holiday house for more than $10million in 2016 (pictured)

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